We’re moving ever closer to Dec. 18 release date for James Cameron’s “Avatar” and our daily visits to the distant moon Pandora. Today we have a video interview with Oscar winner Jon Landau, the film’s producer, who talks about the partnership with McDonald’s on three “Avatar”-themed games, the tech ambitions of the film and all those rumors that that budget for the film went north of $310 million (and, according to one much-debated story in the New York Times, that its price tag was actually approaching $500 million).

Comments

the 500M figure tossed around by the times included all the marketing costs associated with the film, the negative cost is what you are really trying to determine, the CGI budget for this film alone has got to be astronomical, knowing fox not even all the execs there know the real cost.

With that much money being thrown around, I hope this film doesn't become another "Heaven's Gate". That film doomed United Artists Studios. I don't see that happening though. The huge budgets these new CGI films are requiring, are staggering, even in this economy.